The Green Wall

After all these years I still struggle with this unresolved area. It's the expanse of green wall that I see whenever I enter my bedroom. It's the view out the slider, across the deck. It's a big solid nothing that ends abruptly at the stucco wall.

In winter, for a full six months, it's an expanse of ugly brown. 

When I had the patio table and chairs and umbrella on the lower level, they filled the space in front of the vine and it didn't look so long and unbroken. There was form and height against the fence. But it wasn't workable -- too cramped and we never sat there, so I removed it.

Now the umbrella and expanded seating area fills the upper level nicely, but the wall of vine is more visible. I have some nice things planted in front of it on the left side but it's not much.

And on the other end -- the expanse I see from my slider door -- I've had a narrow upright juniper for visual height and interest. But.

The first one, Skyrocket, was nice at first but got too open and unwieldy and scraggly. 

I took it out. I planted a Blue Arrow in its place, and hoped it would get full and dense and upright like Greg's had been.  And blue tinged.

** Now I think it was a mistake to put another juniper there. I took it out today**

The area between the deck and the vine is a cramped 6 feet wide. I don't want something bulky right by the deck edge that blocks any access around to the back of the deck

No tree, juniper or otherwise, narrow or conical, is going to fit and still let me pass by, even a limbed up small tree.

And I want to tie the birdbath strip to the corner of the wall where the potting bench curve garden starts. Right now between the two it's unresolved and empty and the stranded juniper there did nothing.

The two rescued flagstones I put there don't do anything either and should be moved to surround the birdbath base.

> So .  . I need an open path and unobstructed area plus an open view of the aspen trunks and back garden.

> At the same time I want something to look at against the fence.

Something. 

From this view last summer you can barely see the spindly juniper but as it gets larger it will interrupt the line of sight to the shady back garden. A solid bulky tree, even tall and upright, is too much. I had to take it out.

Okay, what can I put smack in front of the wall of green to look at from inside the bedroom? Not another tree or dense shrub. And I don't want more containers scattered about in my gardens.

(One answer would be something to look at on the empty corner of the deck, but whatever I tried there -- containers, the peacock, a stump and birdhouse -- all looked silly. I like the free floating edge of the deck and want to keep it open.)

The cute birdhouse would work -- but it's very heavy and needs a strong support, not a shepherd's crook. I already have the plastic heart on a pole hanging between the birdbath and brown urn.

But the heart looks a lost there smack in the center. It's small and the thin metal crook disappears against the vine, making the heart look oddly suspended in air. 

👉 Next summer hang a basket with blue lobelia instead of the heart-- maybe get a taller shepherd's crook as well and move it over toward the urn so it's not so rigidly centered. Stage the potted hakonechloa where the crook was, elevated a little.

On the right side hang the birdhouse above. Maybe add a division of my Black Adder agastache and a nice stand of Southern Charm verbascums. Both plants are vertical and upright, but not tall.

It's more open, it flows toward the garden on the right and there's some color. The birdhouse needs to hook to a sturdy arm on the fence and be out away from the thick foliage of the vine.

Hook for hanging birdhouse off fence  / and this one too.

I really do not want to add a shrub or tree -- too stiff and bulky. And I do not want more pots scattered about the gardens. So the small stretch of agastache and verbascums might be nice. Nothing to look at in winter other than the birdhouse and stump, though.

Southern Charm

The verbascums are Southern Charm hybrids (from Bluestone) and they are pretty but quite small, only about two feet tall. But the foliage is impactful and the flower stalks are spiky, upright and very cottagey looking. They can be planted in that area where there are no emitters. They want dry gravelly conditions.

They are nothing like the Frankenstein forms of the wild mullein growing in front!

Frankenforms

I like the idea of tying the birdbath strip to the other end by the potting bench curve. 

I like not fussing with pots or anything structural other than a little birdhouse on the fence. It's a quieter look but nothing much to look at out the slider door, especially in winter.

Here's what Gemini A.I thinks this planting would look like in front of the fence: 

Nice. I might see if I can unpot one or two of the blue fescue grasses and plant them at the feet of these tall perennials. I like the blue accents in this shot. The grasses have been potted up for a few years and should be big enough to handle transplanting to this strip.

But once again I am creating a garden design that is small and busy -- little plants mixed together. See my prior post, lamenting exactly that. And here I am taking out a singular tree and substituting . . . um, lots of stuff.

Busy But Not Full

As I look over my photos from last summer and cruise Pinterest garden shots and think about what I want, I am struck by how my back yard garden is busy but not full.

There is so much going on, with too many tiny plants, lots of pots, small arrangements and placements and rock borders and stone patio and wood deck and some garden tchotchkes too. A lot of stuff.

But there is no fullness. It's just busy.

This is a nice shot, a nice summer view down the yard in late afternoon. I do have a big vine covered fence and tall aspens and some shade, but all else is a lot of mixed stuff. 

And this is the best of it, most everything around the white bowl in the circle garden is just mulch with some twigs stuck in. I know, know. The circle garden had many new plants added this past year that are not yet grown. Tiny things.

There are some plants in my garden coming along nicely and there is potential. I can see what the newer pineleaf penstemons will look like in a few years, and the lambsears have always been great and the Grow-lo sumacs thrive. Blue Ice amsonias, tucked away in the alley, have finally made a nice patch. Yes, there are successes in spots.

But even where things have settled in over years, they remain small. The redbud after eight years is nice and flowers well enough, but it's a stick. The kitchen courtyard rose and honeysuckle and veronicas are nice but don't blend together, not touching. Lovely, but clumpy.

I did plant so many new things this past year and need to be patient. And I am planning more for 2026! 

I think that in an effort to get a full look to my gardens and a serene cohesiveness to the whole back courtyard I am adding way too many small things and simply making it all too busy.

Conditions

It's the day before Christmas Eve and we haven't had winter conditions yet. Overnight gets down to just below freezing some nights, but not for long, and the days have been consistently in the 50s. This afternoon it's 60°.

But dry. No precipitation.

So I watered again. I had watered everything on the 14th, and this is just two weeks later. 

In winter a good soaking should be only once a month on a day when temperatures are above 50° but this unbroken mild weather is really more like a long Autumn and my plants need to go into real winter hydrated.

I wonder if I watered enough last winter. 

We had a cool spring, and nothing came up or grew very well. Rain in the summer helped, but perhaps my plants got a slow start because they had struggled in too dry winter conditions?

I got a couple new watering nozzles, but couldn't find the articulated Gilmour ones I like. So I got these Cytheria brand nozzles with a fixed head, and I don't like them at all.

They don't swivel to different positions and I don't like the thumb control. But they work well enough.

Penstemon Care

I've struggled with the Electric Blue penstemon in the circle garden -- it remains a tiny, tiny thing after two years. It's smaller than when I first planted it. 

I found these recommendations on the High Country Gardens site -- and haven't followed most!

Tips for growing Penstemon (Beardtongue)

> They need:

1. elbow room, and don’t like to be crowded by other plants.
2. maximum sun 
3. heat 

> Plant only in well-drained soils; clay soils are incompatible.

> Avoid overly enriched soils; too much compost and fertilizer will shorten their lifespan.

> They establish quickly and watering needs to be reduced after about 8 to 10 weeks to create dry conditions. When using drip irrigation, be sure to put the emitter off to the side of the plant, not right on top of the root ball to avoid overwatering the plant.

(I've been watering heavily for 2 years, thinking to get it growing)

> Plant high, leaving the top of the rootball just above the surrounding soil to avoid burying the crown of the plant.

(I didn't do this)

> Mulch with gravel in arid climates. Always avoid bark or compost as mulch materials. 

     (I have it in bark mulch)

> Fertilize sparingly. One time each year in the fall is enough. Don't use high nitrogen water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro.

     (I've been fertilizing)

To keep penstemon with finely textured or matted evergreen foliage looking best, deadhead them. Shear off the fading flowering spikes just as the plant is going out of flower. Recommended for Penstemon pinifolius ‘Compactum'.

So . . 

. . . dig Electric Blue up, pot it to see if I can get it to grow in a container, and replace it with a reliable and sturdy deep purple 'May Night' salvia.

Warm Enough to Water

It has been mild, in the 50s, and this afternoon was 55 degrees, with a strong winter sun. 

All the way up to Christmas it is forecast to be like that, 50ish temperatures and above freezing at night, with only two nights briefly at 33 degrees, all the other nights above that.

But it's been very dry and there is no rain or snow forecast. 

So I watered today. 

I got everything, even the oaks in the field. I actually hooked up the hose and gave all the gardens a good drink.

I brought the overwintering cuphea outside too, and took out the pinecone mulch and added fresh potting soil to the top around the plant. 

It has been regrowing nicely since I hacked it back and brought it in for the winter. I even see a couple little flower buds. I do need to remember to fertilize it, and to let it dry out between waterings.

The forecast is so forgiving, I even brought the pots of salvias and tickseed and obedient plants etc. out from the garage and I'll leave them outside while the next ten days stay mild and the nights above freezing.

They're tender perennials and can stay out but not if it gets really cold.

First Snow

It's gotten cold recently and last night we got our first snowfall.
 

It's not much on the ground, but it's messy and I have a flight out to California later today. 

It should be fine. The roads are mostly just wet, although the temperature is well below freezing, so ice could be an issue.

It does look a bit Christmassy this morning.

🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄    🎄   🎄

Leaf Litter and Mulch

A cold rain all day today, about half an inch. Yesterday was nice -- 52° but pleasant to work in. I spread leaf litter and a little bit of mulch.

Before Jim's back got really bad a few weeks ago, he vacuumed up some leaves and in the process the machine chops them into pieces. He filled a whole contractor bag with shredded leaves.

Later the bulk of the fallen leaves were cleaned up and taken away by Jeronimo's men -- the cottonwood and aspen leaves don't disintegrate and form huge mats all over and need to be removed.

So the gardens were cleared up, it had rained the other day so soil was moist, and I had a contractor bag full of chopped leaf litter to spread around.

I dumped it into the trug, added water and then kneaded and mixed it to get it all wet. I did several trugs -- a lot, actually -- there was a ton of leaf litter to work with. Then, after spreading it around the gardens, I used one bag of wood chip mulch to put down to hold the leaf litter from blowing away. 

It is fine and dry and I didn't want it to disappear in the wind.

The steady damp and rain today has tamped it down pretty well, and the soil from the rain we had before was moist underneath. Hopefully the leaf litter will add nutrients and tilth, the bit of mulch will hold it, and the gardens will be happy next spring.

November Rain

I woke to a cold fog this morning after a full day yesterday of off and on rain. We got almost half an inch total. 

The fog burned off pretty quickly to light up our wet world. But the patio cushions are soaked through -- I hadn't brought them in.

Jeronimo had just cleaned up the leaves the day before so the ground could soak in this rain. He charged $412 -- yikes.

Tomorrow, when the forecast is for milder weather, I'll spread some mulch to cover a few areas where bare dirt and some of the irrigation tubing is exposed.